Looking to engage learners at the intersection of art, literacy, and human connection?On the Outside/On the Inside is a creative activity that fosters personal reflection, while simultaneously building background in vocabulary and concepts for talking about character traits.
Watching the live reporting of the attempted coup on January 6th, 2021, I was thinking about two things: racial inequities in policing, and bias in the word choice used to report collective actions. This blog focuses on word choice, and how we can teach students to listen and read critically for bias.
This weekend something magical happened, I opened a box.
Enjoy a moment of peace and reflection- the moment a keynote speaker and writer unplugged from Pandemic fears, to reconnect with what has always brought her joy.
Literacy educator discovers her creative writing on a standardized test, and struggles to answer the comprehension questions.
Check out my webinar “Six Essentials for EL Excellence” at this link. Enjoy the webinar alone, or with your team or school. It’s easy to use this webinar to lead interactive professional learning. Simply pause the video and structure think-pair-share each time I ask a question to engage people in reflecting and discussing. In this webinar participants . . . Learn six essentials to teach and lead for EL Excellence…
The caliber of core teaching has the greatest influence on whether or not our English Learners (ELs) thrive. Consider the following: Three in four U.S. classrooms have at least one student who is an English learner. Even in schools with EL specialists, ELs spend the majority of their instructional day with core classroom teachers. We know this, yet too often forget it when designing EL programs and solutions. Instead, many…
Evacuated from my home the first morning of the Tubbs Fire, I found a charred page of the bible amidst the fallen ash. Here’s an erasure poem I wrote using that that page to express the devastation and find my way towards resilience. Share these strategies to create and teach erasure poems.
I cannot change history, but in this moment I have a choice:
Do I open my eyes to clearly see?
Or bequeath the blindness bequeathed to me?
Reading old family letters I discovered something I never expected to find. Join me on this humbling journey.
Problem I don’t draw. Seriously, this is what I’ve told myself for most of my life. Yes, this was the humbling realization I had when reading Carol Dweck’s book Mindset years ago, as in other parts of my life I feel like a walking example of someone with a growth mindset. I thrive on challenges, on learning from failure, and all that. I take risks daily to push myself beyond what…
